US Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War in Africa

Flavia Gasbarri is Lecturer in War Studies, Co-chair of the Africa Research Group and a member of the Centre for Grand Strategy at the War Studies Department, King’s College London, UK.

• Introduction 1. The United States and the Cold War in Africa 2. 1988: The Rupture of the Cold War Paradigm in Africa 3. The United States in Southern Africa, 1988–1994 4. The United States in the Horn of Africa, 1988–1994 Conclusion

'This study examines US foreign policy during the transition from Cold War politics toward a more fragmented and regional approach. Focusing on the Horn of Africa and southern Africa, Gasbarri (King’s College London, UK) contends that 1988 marked a watershed between older Cold War politics and a brief period of US-Soviet cooperation in conflicts such as the Angolan civil war. Since this book relies heavily on US diplomatic records and former US State Department officials, the role of Soviet and African stakeholders tends to be overshadowed by US perspectives. Readers should be forewarned that this is not at all an overview of US foreign policy toward the entire African continent. For example, there is no reference to the wave of democratic protest movements that swept much of Francophone Africa in the early 1990s. Even the collapsing fortunes of pro-Western Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the wake of the US government’s withdrawal of support in 1991 barely receives attention. On the other hand, in the case of Somalia, Gasbarri effectively shows how the end of Cold War competition left US policy makers ill-equipped to develop new approaches. Readable and clearly organized. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.'--J. M. Rich, Marywood University, Choice October 2021